


Discovering Your Soul Mate at the Conn

by themis_ceres



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Internal Monologue, M/M, Pre-ship, Reflection, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-07
Updated: 2012-11-07
Packaged: 2017-11-18 03:43:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/556528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themis_ceres/pseuds/themis_ceres
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Five Stages of Discovering Your Soul Mate: Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu is twenty-one when he’s assigned to the USS Enterprise, it doesn’t take him half the five-year journey to realize he loves Chekov, Pavel Andreievich.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Discovering Your Soul Mate at the Conn

conn (v.)

1\. to direct the ship

_or in which Sulu finds his soul mate_

-

Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu is twenty-one when he’s assigned to the USS Enterprise. He’s a helmsman with some experience under his belt, not much mind you, but enough.  He’s a helmsman who’s worked with several different navigators, not many mind you, but there’ve been a few. And yes he’s also slept with, well, not most but more than a few of them.

He hasn’t found his place yet, this he knows.. He knows he’s still young but there’s an innate longing that is just part of the human condition, all people are longing to find some kind of belonging.

Hikaru is not the Enterprise’s helmsman. He’s still a junior officer. It just so happens Pike’s main helmsmen came down with lungworm. Which is how he meets Chekov, Pavel Andreievich. Later, much later, Hikaru will liken it to the feeling of coming home.

- 

The Five Stages of Discovering Your Soul Mate

**i. Interpersonal Compatibility**

            It’s pretty much instantaneous. They don’t have the chance to say ten words to each other before chaos descends though. There’s a small part of his mind that realizes this at the time. He treasures that feeling- that they didn’t _have_ to say ten words or even ten thousand words. The ease and comfort that defines their working habits slowly creeps into their personal lives as well. It makes sense of course, but the longer they work together the more seamless their interactions become until Hikaru realizes he’s stopped counting Chekov, Pavel Andreievich as someone separate from himself.

**ii. Intimacy**

            The intense experiences that are part of the daily life of the Enterprise reinforce their interpersonal bond of course, and it doesn’t take as long as Hikaru thinks it should for the rest of the crew to begin to associate them as belonging together as well. It’s all very convenient for the senior officers. And when Hikaru asks why they aren’t more curious or even bothered by it Kirk just shrugs and mubled something about them being easy to find and Spock just raises one eyebrow and states: “Your intimacy has quite a positive effect on crew morale.”

**iii. Affinity**

            In an attempt to grow as individuals they decide to take some time apart, make some new friends. It may or may not be because the Captain may, or may not, have insinuated that they couldn’t. They manage to stay away from each other for all of 88.8 hours, less than a week, not even four days before they’re sitting together at lunch again. The strained, studious, silence between them is a last ditch attempt to disprove the Captain. Gaila throws herself on the seat in-between them.  She looks back and forth a couple times as she crams in replicated greens. “Aren’t you guys bored yet?” And she’s right- Hikaru is so bored! He’s had a thousand ideas that he’s been desperate to share. If the look on Pavel’s face is anything to go by he’s had two thousand. Neither one notice when she leaves, nor her mutterings on _kindred spirits_. 

**iv. Spirituality**

            There’s something about facing down death nearly everyday that really forces you to be honest with yourself, especially about what’s meaningful to you. It hurts at first of course, like stretching any new muscle, but Hikaru gets used to it. In the end the crew settles on believing in their captain, their ship, and each other. They believe in duty, loyalty, their ability to do good works and bring each other home safe. Every time Pavel smiles at him Hikaru believes in all that and more.

**v. Love**

            It doesn’t take half the five-year journey for Hikaru to realize he loves Pavel. It barely takes him six months to realize his personal attachment to and fondness for the young man is completely long-term in its scope, and over time he’s proven correct by random and spasmodic bursts overwhelming affection.

            Whatever happens post their assignment on the Enterprise Hikaru knows he’ll follow Pavel to the end of the galaxy. Maybe one day he’ll even tell him that..  

**Author's Note:**

> so.. this happened. one day i will figure out plot and stop writing maudlin drabbles.. but today is not that day, :)
> 
> also, cross registered at fanfiction.net


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